Relaxed Friday

For the literature group, today started our free weekend. I took today as an opportunity to go about my day at an easy-going pace, meaning sleeping an extra hour and spending most of the day on my own. 

Today, I visited more extensively some iconic London sites: Parliament Square, Westminster Abbey, and Hyde Park. The self-guided tour of inside Westminster Abbey was absolutely worth the £17 price (discounted for students). There is so much more to the space than a big church. For anyone ever thinking of going, I'd definitely recommend to use the headsets to guide the tour. They were very informative and helpful in highlighting some things I would have missed on my own, like the gravesites of Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.

The Abbey is referred to as a living, or currently working, church. This means that services such as mass or reconciliation are available daily. There are also special times when smaller, more reserved sections, such as the Shrine of St. Edward the Confessor, of the Abbey are open for prayer. The building has been a site for so much English history. So far, 38 monarchs have had their coronations there, all using the same medieval throne! It is also the final resting place of many monarchs and historical figures, including Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. There have been a few different versions of the Abbey throughout the years. The building of the one that stands today began in 1245 under the direction on Henry III.

After my tour, I stopped for lunch at a cafe underneath the Methodist Central Hall (another large building in Parliament Square). Sometimes the food here is nothing to write home about, but I was impressed with my meal there! I also love that mashed potatoes is a common side to a meal. My main dish was a steak-filled pot pie. Yum!

The rest of my day was pretty relaxed. I sat in Hyde Park enjoying the weather, took a nap at the hostel, and do some laundry. As a Sherlock Holmes fan, I look forward to visiting 221B Baker Street tomorrow.